GEM inaugurates its XR Lab: when virtual reality transforms learning
GEM inaugurates its XR Lab, a new immersive platform at the heart of GEM Labs, its innovation campus dedicated to experiential learning. Within the XR Lab, virtual reality and extended reality become powerful pedagogical tools to train students to act, decide and interact in the complexity of today’s professional environments.
At GEM, this training-by-doing approach goes far beyond a technological tool. It is part of a broader action-based learning philosophy, supported by a set of experimental learning platforms (Playground, TIM Lab, Biz Lab, etc.).
Between September 2025 and January 2026, more than 1,600 students have already taken part in these immersive learning experiences, now structured and further developed with the opening of the XR Lab.
From lecture halls to grounds: preparing for interviews before the big day
With the XR Lab, learning becomes experiential and embodied. Students are immersed in realistic professional situations: negotiation, public speaking, job interviews, pitching, management or handling high-pressure situations. This approach is fully aligned with GEM’s 60-20- 20 pedagogical model: 60% in-person learning, 20% virtual learning within GEM Labs, and 20% learning beyond the classroom.
The XR Lab perfectly embodies this model, allowing students to train in near-real conditions, test and refine their decisions and posture, and progress through immediate, structured feedback.
Concrete applications embedded in academic pathways
Within the Grande École Programme, the Odyssey pathway fully illustrates this immersive pedagogy.
Students present their projects in immersive settings in front of virtual professional stakeholders, refine their proposals through personalised feedback, and then face a Business Angel-type scenario in which they must convince several virtual investors.
The XR Lab is also used to develop key transversal skills, such as practising foreign languages in professional contexts, managing intercultural interactions, and adapting to diverse environments, all experienced through immersion, as close as possible to real-world professional situations.
With the XR Lab, GEM takes a new step in the deployment of its pedagogical journey, placing experimentation at the very heart of learning. An approach that confirms the school’s positioning as a leading player in pedagogical innovation, serving employability.
